PIA Press Release2006/10/03

Cebu wants Visayas nurses exempted in exam retake

By Minerva BC Newman

Cebu City (3 October) -- Cebu wants Visayas nurses exempted in exam retake through a Provincial Board resolution sponsored by Board Member Victor Maambong that was passed in a mass motion asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to reconsider her recent order for a retake of the nursing licensure examination.

The resolution reads: "Cebu examinees, especially those who passed, have undergone so much hard work, frustration, pain, anxiety and expenses. To require them to retake the exam would certainly break their spirits and subject them to undue and harsh punishment for acts of dishonesty they did not commit."

“With all due respect to Her Excellency’s decision, however, it is respectfully advanced that the retake of the grueling and expensive exam that the retake would be to punish the innocent examinees. Inasmuch as cheating was proven only in Manila, it would be highly unjust and iniquitous to include the Visayas and Mindanao examinees in the retake," the resolution further reads.

The President recently wants a retake of tests 3 and 5 for all the examinees on or before December licensure exams as she is convinced that a partial retake will restore the profession’s integrity. DOLE Secretary Arturo Brion said, the government will also shoulder the P900 examination fee for each of the more than 42,000 June 2006 examinees.

Board Member Maambong said, the provincial board joins the entire academic community and society in condemning the fiasco. Cheating is an act of mental and academic dishonesty of the highest order. It should not be tolerated and responsible persons must be punished accordingly.

In a similar development, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena declared the nursing exam leakage as a “calamity” and has promised those who will be retaking the test a P5,000 financial aid from the city to be taken appropriately enough from its calamity fund. (PIA-Cebu) [top]